“Smart Port Challenge 2022”: All about the presented innovations

The second edition brings more than 150 participants

More than 150 participants from all over the world participated in the second edition of “Smart Port Challenge 2022” Hackathon which concluded on September 27, 2022. The Port Hackathon, dedicated to innovation in the port sector in Morocco, is open to anyone, start-up, company, school or university, who wants to propose innovative solutions in response to key port challenges, in partnership with the National Ports Agency (ANP) and the Guichet unique national portnet business facility global alliance. Developing creative solutions tailored to the needs of Moroccan port customers. In total, 46 teams made it to the final stages of these hackathon projects to meet the challenges of this 100% online international innovation competition. In this regard, the four winning teams of the Smart Port Challenge have been announced. details.

And the winners…

The teams that excelled during the competition presented innovative solutions to the sector’s challenges. Therefore, in response to the challenge of reducing the waiting time for ships at the port, the Silicon Signal Technologies team proposed the Iport Smart Yards solution, which makes it possible to issue predictive models about the availability of docks. Their speed thus reduces both their energy bill and their waiting time in port. Addressing the challenge of controlling air, water and sediment pollution levels in ports, architect-designer Abdessamat Elaichadi presented the solution of the PORT-LAB system. It is a mobile laboratory in the form of a container, equipped with the latest state-of-the-art technologies for pollution control in ports.

Considering the challenge of streamlining truck flows, the Silicon Signal Technologies team implemented the “iPort: Monitoring and Planning of Integrated Port Resources” solution. This complete digital solution is for monitoring and planning port resources. This allows traffic optimization to reduce truck traffic congestion at the Port of Casablanca. In response to the challenge of simplifying business processes, the team at wabtech, an American company, released Cargo Dwell & Optimization, a web-based solution based on artificial intelligence and data analytics. Improves the processing of containerized imports and exports to reduce uncertainty of dwell time, improve predictability, and improve coordination between administrative procedures and port logistics and innovation of operations.

See you in 2023

During the closing ceremony, Nadia Laraki, Director General, National Ports Agency, congratulated the winners of this unique Hackathon, both nationally and internationally, in the port sector. He highlighted all the partners, sponsors and experts who participated in the event. They are students, engineers, start-ups and companies from Morocco and many other countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas who are interested in this high-level competition. Similarly, 40 experts and scientists led various workshops, webinars and online conferences to support participants throughout the hackathon.

It should be noted that 40 experts, logisticians and scientists from Morocco, Switzerland and Sweden evaluated and praised the proposed projects according to 4 criteria: customer-focused, business and commercial, innovative and sustainable and superior. Added value.

As a reminder, the second edition of the Port Hackathon is part of the “SmartPort Innovation” initiative launched by ANP. This integrated and coordinated approach to the development of the national port sector aims to improve its performance and create a perspective, global and coherent framework for the development of ports. At the end of the ceremony, the National Ports Agency revealed that the next edition of the “Smart Port Challenge” will be held in 2023, and the port community is excited to soon test some of the innovative ideas from this hackathon. In Moroccan ports.